Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) says it’s on course to exceed its revenue collection target for 2017 by about K300 million.
ZRA Director, Research and Policy Ezekiel Phiri says the authority has so far exceeded the target by about K181 million in form of taxes.
Mr. Phiri says during the last 3 years, tax revenue collections have performed favourably against the government target except for 2016.
He says from 2012-2016, tax revenue contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio has averaged 15.9%.
Mr. Phiri states that government funding as a percentage of revenue collected has shown a declining trend over time partly indicating efficient use of resources.
He says in terms of the contribution to the Government Budget, tax revenue has continued to be the major source of revenue averaging 66.3% of the total budget during the last 4 years.
Mr Phiri was speaking during a ZRA media workshop in Siavonga.
And in his opening remarks, ZRA Commissioner Domestic Taxes Moses Shuko says the major challenge to tax administration is non compliance.
Mr Shuko says the current compliance levels stand at 53 percent, but that the authority is targeting to raise this to about 75 percent.